Animal Heart(38)

As if!



He dropped the eight ball in the side pocket neatly, and was greeted with a resounding cheer from his pack. The big and tough looking biker with the wicked headscarf who'd taken him on nodded graciously in defeat, slapping a twenty dollar bill on the green in mock disgust.

“Well fuck me... It ain't often someone beats me at crazy eight,” he said with a gravelly rumble of a voice. He gripped Aden's hand in a brotherly way, holding their fists high up in the air, elbow to elbow. The special way their kind greeted each other. “But then, you're not just anyone, are you, wolf-bro?”

Aden laughed raucously.

He'd known who and what he was the second he'd laid eyes on this huge, fair haired leather clad dude, propping up the bar. They'd locked eyes, and a touch of confrontation hung between them until the traveller's face relaxed into a slow easy grin.

Aden took a long swig of his beer. “We're birds of a feather, Cal my man. So tell me, where are you from and where are you headed?”

“Alabama born and raised. Been livin' in Ontario since I was twenty. Vancouver's where I'm bound, visiting some of my brethren for a while. Kicking up the blacktop dust is my kinda life.” He smiled revealing his perfect set of gold capped incisors.

“You're cutting it a bit fine, the moons about to round up,” Aden reminded him.

“I'm easy, real easy. I guess I'll have to go deep forest for a few days. Not a problem at all,” he drawled, cool as a cucumber.

“You're welcome to stay with us on our ranch. We have facilities, here in town, for the moon. Fancy a stop over?”

“You know what? I might just do that. D'you have a pool table at that ranch of yours? I wanna whip your sorry fuckin' ass...” he guffawed good-naturedly.

“Oh yeah, we do at that and just you fucking try bro...” Aden joined in with Cal's deep manly laughter.

He was thinking they'd need to make a move soon, it was nearing dusk and Maddy had been on her own long enough.



A moment later the bar door swung open and in strode Sergeant Filomountie. All five foot two of her impressive height, including her boots. She made a beeline for Aden and slapped a piece of folded paper in his hand.

“Aden Carr, I'm issuing you with a search warrant. We received an anonymous tip off that you have illegal goods in your lockup premises. Would you accompany me please, sir?”

Aden unfolded and looked at the paper with deep concern, and then around him at his equally concerned pack, and the confused Cal.

Christ almighty, NO... Maddy was there.

Human or wolf aside, how he was going to explain this he didn't quite know. His brain searched desperately for a good excuse as he followed the sergeant to her car and got in next to her. They drove to the lock up in a hostile silence, the pack followed in the truck, and their new biker friend trailed behind at a respectful distance. His heart was beating like a drum as he unlocked the padlock on the gate. The Mayor drew up next to them in his car, taking a seat on his bonnet with folded arms and a look of glee plastered on his face. Aden bristled with annoyance, an inner fury arising inside of him. He ignored him and walked towards the containers. "Where would you like to start Sergeant?" he asked with a grim expression.

“What about over there? I like starting at the end.” She pointed to the far end of the row of containers. Aden breathed a sigh of relief and started to talk loudly. Hopefully Maddy would hear and catch on, and could somehow quickly become human again, if she wasn't already. He didn't want to be arrested for animal trafficking. Wolves were protected in these parts.

“That end one?... That's our ski sled store...” He opened the flap and pressed the numeric buttons on the container keypad to open the door and expose the one man motorised ski sleds. There were spare gas tanks and coils of blue rope on the floor.

The sergeant harrumphed loudly with disappointment. God knows what she was expecting to find. A container full of stolen TVs? Perhaps a shipment of Class A drugs?

“And the next, come on, I haven't got all day?”

“Ski equipment...?” She glared at him when the contents became visible.

“Yep, that's all.”

He opened the next which contained twenty bags of oats and some bales of hay, which she prodded and poked around in disgust. “Emergency fodder for my horses, just in case they run out at the store.”

“Right...” she said. “Move on.” He opened the next.

“Our tow tubs, for the sleds.”

She sighed with impatience.

He opened six more quickly, which were completely empty. Then they came to his. Maddy's lockup.

He tapped the numbers in and opened it slowly, closing his eyes, and hoping she had disappeared by magic. She was lying asleep on the floor, fully dressed and human. He rushed to her side and helped her to her feet. She threw herself into his arms with a deep sigh of relief and tears began to run down her cheeks.